Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for leakage detection and leakage location, with a permeable collecting line which is connected to a pump for a transport medium and to at least one sensor for a substance emerging in the event of a leakage.
Such a device is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,233 and German patent DE 24 31 907 C3. It is used as a leakage detection and location system (LDLS, LEOS), for example, on a pipeline (for example, for gas or petroleum). If a substance emerges from a leak in the pipeline, this substance passes as a result of diffusion into the collecting line and is later delivered together with a transport medium, by means of the pump, through the collecting line to a sensor and detected there. The location of the leak is then determined from the transport time and the known flow velocity.
With an increasing length of the collecting line, which in the case of pipelines may amount to 800 km (˜500 miles), the problem arises that, because of unavoidable density, pressure and temperature fluctuations of the gaseous transport medium along the collecting line and on account of the high pressure drop necessary for its transport, its flow velocity over the entire collecting line is not constant and may likewise fluctuate. As a result, the accuracy with which the location of the leak can be determined decreases with the length of the collecting line.